Watched and digested Floyd in Spain, Jamie Oliver with what he can do in 15 minutes,plus three editions of the Great British BakeOff 2013.
I learned that the first cook book was written by Richard II’s Master Cooks - Forme of Cury.
I made some fresh coffee to eat with homemade Bara Brith, which gave me the strength to make some Raspberry Jam.
Thank you Thane Prince – brilliant recommendation…
… are something to celebrate as they give me an excuse to watch cooking programmes, and plan warm, sumptuous meals.
Because Toby is grounded to due to bad weather (no fun sitting on the decking in the rain and there really is only so many hours one can spend in a pub playing Uno and listening to music which isn’t your bag !).
In bad weather he likes to cook !! Well as long as it involves some kind of technology – the blender is proving very versatile in this respect.
Last week we had Chicken Provencal (courtesy of Rachel Khoo), Madeleine’s and my take on Orange and Cointreau Icecream – Pernod and Elderflower – yummy was the verdict.
Recipe for Chicken Provencal:
Bed of Onions, Fennel Bulb, handful of raisins, one red pepper, 1/2 bottle of white wine, seasoning to taste.
Stuffing – 1/3rd small bottle of olives, three preserved lemons, blitzed and then stuffed (to Toby’s great amusement) under the skin of the chicken (or as he liked to say up its bum !!).
The chicken is basically poached on the bed of onions et al, for about 1 1/2 hours.
This week we played with the mashed potato – au gratin (my version contains pumpkin seeds and oats as well as diet cheese).
So – off to do housework and think about some menus for next weekend… one of the bonuses of daytime TV, like having a seminar in the comfort of your own home.
and setting down stores for the winter.
Now we have some beautiful weather for a while, the world around me feels quite calm (for a change!!)
Having tackled Pickle, Chutney and Jam, not forgetting Sweetcorn relish over the last few days – I am feeling really good about not letting the Summer Bounty go to waste – plums are illustrated, and I have blackberrys and crab apples ready to go.
The Piccalilli was a recipe courtesy of the The Big Allotment Challenge – which I found fascinating, even if it was quite disjointed – each episode seemed to cover too large a timespan and I got confused
Unfortunately though the smell was appalling and when decanting it into jars it smelled and looked like baby poop… Having said that, when we had a taster when it cooled enough to try – wow….worth all the grief !!
I would though do things differently to the original writers and as usual the methodology is confusing to me and doesn’t flag up enormous waiting times for things like salt to work, where I could usefully be doing other things.
In the meantime here is a rose from my garden for you to enjoy – the one which was a rose, then a dog rose, then has some rose hips on it and now back again as a rose… It is called Irish Blessings – so with the sun shining the way it is today I am counting mine – 
I have been playing around a bit with recipes for Madeleines. A little bit of nostalgia from the world of my childhood… but with no recipe I didn’t quite know where to start.
I have spent the last few months experimenting and this is the recipe I have come up with
Yes, I know they should be Madeleines, but everyone calls them by many names in this house – depending on whether they are slightly burned (I haven’t got my timings right when using a metal mould) – in which case they are called Gremlins.
I have uploaded it as a PDF and so please feel free to try it and come back to me with any thoughts/recommendations – typos etc.
Well where do I begin to tell you about what I have done on this adventure?
A year ago if someone said to me that I would not only be confidently catering for up to 6 guests with less than an hour’s notice but would have
a) the ingredients to hand;
b) be able to cope with dietary requirements;
and c) make it look edible and inviting enough for guests to ask for seconds… then I would have told you to go… well you get the drift 
Now a year later, I am able to do all the above, with aplomb and panache
HOW?
By sheer will and determination not to let my ignorance get in the way
WHY?
Because if I didn’t there was nobody else to take the lead on this. We were all going to either starve or put on even more weight – neither look was really where I was aiming for and certainly not what I would aspire for my family.
Having made the decision to try to get my head around ingredients, equipment and basically everything which goes into having to acquire these – such as shopping (an anathema to me… I hate it and now have developed a phobia!)
So I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves, sat down with my knitting – and thought about it a bit and then a bit more – then had a row with “him indoors”
Then with my usual thoroughness – with notebooks to hand, study aids in the form of TV celebs and their matching shiny bright – published for TV – coffee-table cook-books – the remote in the other hand, and a large gin at times eyeing me up across the desk… I started my journey of self-discovery.
These cookbooks are now annotated and dog-eared – corrections made in pen and now ink all over the text – they look thoroughly lived in…
If you are like me and totally intimidated by trying to work out where to start – and not having come from a culinary inspired and dominated culture… here are some basic suggestions to get you underway.
Try celeb-fusion cooking… (not to be mixed up with any other kind of fusion cooking !!)
I started off with Nigella and Jamie – with a smattering and sprinkling of Hugh – my first cookbooks I have linked here – but suggest you look in second hand shops and jumble sales they are very cheap and the programmes are repeated on daytime TV ad nauseam, so you should be able to record.
One word of warning – the TV and the books have different descriptions and ingredients from each other. Just take notes of what the presenter says and correct the book or index accordingly – saves you hours later on when you are trying to find something…
